If there was any movie from my childhood that ensured I'd never get a decent night's sleep again, this was it. With Freddy, that metal-clawed, scar-faced creature that only nightmares are made of, director Wes Craven gave us the sort of movie character that remains utterly recognizable and overused in pop culture. To the extent that it becomes impossible to ever entirely erase him from your mind.

The film's premise? In many ways it's just another '80s style slasher movie, only this time the villain gets them in their dreams, or rather, nightmares. Sleeping bodies (of a more relatable cast than in most films of this genre) are brutally ripped to pieces and loved ones are left looking on. There's only one rule—don't fall asleep. Or Freddy will get you. His domain is the dream world.

If there was any movie from my childhood that ensured I'd never get a decent night's sleep again, this was it. With Freddy, that metal-clawed, scar-faced creature that only nightmares are made of, director Wes Craven gave us the sort of movie character that remains utterly recognizable and overused in pop culture. To the extent that it becomes impossible to ever entirely erase him from your mind.

The film's premise? In many ways it's just another '80s style slasher movie, only this time the villain gets them in their dreams, or rather, nightmares. Sleeping bodies (of a more relatable cast than in most films of this genre) are brutally ripped to pieces and loved ones are left looking on. There's only one rule—don't fall asleep. Or Freddy will get you. His domain is the dream world.

The Ring

I'm the first to admit I'm easily frightened but there's a difference between scaring someone a little and downright petrifying people into a coma. Though it's embarrassing to admit, The Ring definitely sent me straight into the latter. Nothing is more terrifying than the image of Samaara, the ghostly girl herself, and when she's twisting and turning in ways no human ever should to clamber out of a well or right out of the television set to get you, you will scream.

The story too is pretty well scripted given that it's a horror movie. It became the first in the line of many Japanese horror films that got adapted for Hollywood's palate when they'd run out of ideas of their own. Basically the plot goes something like this. An unsuspecting viewer watches a creepy videotape with an even scarier girl in it and seven days later the watcher dies. The protagonist too watches it and she's left figuring out how to save her own and her family's life. Trust me, it's scarier than it sounds.

Rosemary's Baby

This 1968 film is a classic example of 'old is gold.' Rosemary, played by Mia Farrow with a rather funny haircut moves into an apartment building in New York with her new husband. What she doesn't know is that the building is also home to Satan worshippers who only want to use Rosemary's womb to spawn the devil himself. A means to return him to our mortal realm if you will.

This one's a bit of a slow-burner but each and every moment brims the tension to the absolute boiling point as a delicate Farrow slowly unravels the sketchy cult that surrounds her and all the people that seem to be conspiring against her. While the devil watches it all from the side of course. Director Polanski was famed for his 'less is more' style of storytelling and it worked in leaving audiences with shivers.

The Shining

'Here's Johnny!' Meet the horror genre's biggest influence on pop culture. This is quite possibly the scariest film ever written and how could it not be considering the original book was penned by none other than King of Horror, Stephen King. It's also possibly the best casting any Hollywood film has ever seen because Jack Nicholson is about as inhumanly terrifying and insane as any actor has ever been. In fact, he's so good, we're inclined to believe he must be that batty in real life as well.

So let's break this down. A Stephen King script, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Nicholson. The plot chronicles a family man's mental breakdown as evil spirits urge him to kill his family in the most desolate of surroundings. It's horrifyingly psychological, deeply twisted and the climax is absolutely gutting. There's no better time to give this movie a shot than Halloween night.

Silence Of the Lambs

Ah, Hannibal Lecter. The role that catapulted Anthony Hopkins to megastar status. The role in which he plays a serial-killing cannibal with a doctorate who's being sought out to catch another serial killer. For a horror film to win a Best Picture Oscar is almost unheard of but this is the film that managed to do it so you can imagine that it deserves its place on this list.

Director Jonathan Demme made the right move when he kept this iconic villain as more of a believable monster rather than a grossly psychotic caricature of a villain. It helped to make the movie much more relatable and believable and hence, all the more terrifying. Between Foster as the FBI agent and Hopkins as the villain, this one was always going to be a winner.

The Exorcist

The sheer horror of this movie comes from its roots in faith and belief—pillars of the foundation of humanity. A cheerful 12-year-old girl begins behaving very oddly, with a worsening complexion and sudden proneness to bursts of profanity. As the incidents become progressively more horrifying, her mother begins to understand that she is possessed.

She eventually turns to a priest to help her in exorcising her daughter of this demonic spirit who is also suffering from a loss of faith. The fact that the film was based on a true story only makes it more unnerving than ever. Incidentally, its sequel The Exorcism of Emily Rose gives it a good run for money as far as spine-chilling stories of exorcism go. In the mood to question your faith and cry tears of fear? This is definitely the movie for you. No matter how many exorcism movies continue to flood the movie bazaar, these two will always be the icing on the cake.

Psycho

This one's a horror classic. Directed by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, it was certainly the cherry on top of his already impressive repertoire and that quintessential shower slaying scene remains one of the most iconic horror scenes ever even today.

Hitchcock is as usual stupendous in creating a world full of suspense and unyielding tension. The content of the film wherein women getting stabbed in showers may not seem as horrifying today but in the 1960s it was horror movie gold. Still, even today, it would make for a rather nerve-wracking watch, should you dare to watch it of course.